Number 11 is a novel written by Jonathan Coe. Released in 2015, it is a sequel to Coe's earlier What a Carve Up! and features Alison and Rachel - and their families - experiencing various horrific and surrealistic events. The novel comprises five parts with interconnected plot lines and multiple points of view.
Characters[]
- Alison
- Rachel
- Mad Bird Woman
- Laura
rest to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The long-awaited sequel to The Winshaw Legacy, the 1995 novel that introduced American readers to one of Britain's most exciting new writers - an acerbic, hilariously dark, and unflinching portrait of modern society.
The novel opens in the early aughts: two ten-year-olds, Alison and Rachel, have a frightening encounter with the "Mad Bird Woman" who lives down the road. As the narrative progresses through time, the novel envelops others who are connected to the girls: Alison's mother, a has-been singer, competing on a hit reality TV show; Rachel's university mentor confronting her late husband's disastrously obsessive search for a German film he saw as a child; a young police constable investigating the seemingly accidental and unrelated deaths of two stand-up comedians; the ludicrously wealthy family who hire Rachel as a nanny - under whose immense London mansion Rachel will discover a dark and terrifying secret.
Psychological insight, social commentary, vicious satire, and even surrealist horror are combined in this highly accomplished work to hold up a revealing, disquieting mirror to the world we live in today.
Plot[]
The Black Tower[]
The Black Tower takes place in rural Yorkshire in 2003, soon after the invasion of Iraq and the death of David Kelly. It follows the beginning of the friendship between ten-year-old girls Rachel and Alison as they try to decipher mysterious happenings around the village where Rachel's grandparents live. The Comeback is set in 2011 and focuses on Alison and her mother Val, now living in Birmingham. Alison, estranged from Rachel due to a misunderstanding after coming out as gay to her, is trying to form new relationships. Val, a former one-hit-wonder singer and a librarian facing reduced working hours, is offered the chance to appear on a reality show, which she accepts in the hopes of reviving her career. Although she gets along with the other participants, the footage is heavily edited to paint her in a bad light, leading to a hugely negative response from the audience. Alison watches horrified as her mother is made to undertake very unpleasant and humiliating tasks, until she returns home traumatised.
The Crystal Garden[]
The Crystal Garden follows Laura, a lecturer at Oxford University. Over the course of a weekend in 2011, she tells Rachel, now a student there, the story of her recently deceased husband's obsession with a short film he had seen as a child, and how the search for it led to his death. The Winshaw Prize is the story of how young policeman Nathan Pilbeam tries to find the connection between the apparently accidental deaths of two comedians. His approach, which advocates understanding the political and social context of a crime, allows him to not only predict the next target but identify the killer, a man who believes that comedy is making people complacent and is a danger to democracy.
What a Whopper![]
In What a Whopper!, Rachel is hired as a private tutor for the children of a very rich family. She lives in their house in Kensington, in a section reserved for staff, while work to build an extravagant eleven-level basement to the house is being undertaken. She meets Laura again, who has a new post trying to promote humanitarian values in a financial organisation. A chance encounter with Val, who now has to attend food banks for sustenance, leads to her reconnecting with Alison, serving a brief term in prison after being framed for benefit fraud. At the same time, secondary characters from throughout the novel who are wealthy residents of the area mysteriously go missing, with a promoted Pilbeam researching the case. Rachel struggles to understand and adapt to her employers' mentality, lifestyle and activities, which, along with personal difficulties, culminates in her having a breakdown. The final chapters show that Rachel, Alison and Val are recovering from their problems, while the missing people are implied to have been abducted in retribution for their past behaviour.
See Also[]
- What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe